A review by gwendle_vs_literature
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

dark funny informative medium-paced

4.0

A few years ago I would not have made it through this book, but watching Caitlin’s “Ask a Mortician” on YouTube over the past few years prepared me for the honest and sometimes startling way she describes the realities of death. I really enjoyed this book, and I got through it pretty quickly because it was engaging and that made it hard to put down. I can’t recommend it for everyone, as some people might find the frank descriptions of decay and of what happens to bodies in contemporary North-American funeral practices too difficult to get through. In that case I would be more inclined to recommend her second book “From  Here to Eternity” which explores a variety of different cultural practices regarding death from all around the world. That one I can recommend to almost anyone. 

Accidental pairing that I now recommend:

I happened to read this immediately after finishing “As I Lay Dying” — which may seem like I was on a theme, but it was just a coincidental timing of wait lists at the library. However, if you want to compare a factual discussion of death and our rituals surrounding it (past and present) with a classic of American literature on that topic written and set in a time after more modern death “management” (ie embalming and/or quick burials) had taken firm root, but when poverty and a desire to honour the last wishes of the dead lead a family to ignore those conventions, then it’s a pairing I can recommend. Caitlin’s information certainly made Faulkner’s novel more interesting for me by providing extra layers of context. Particularly if you have to read Faulkner for an English class, pairing it with “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” could make it more enjoyable for you, and could also provide some good essay topics. 
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